Mitroff (2005)

Management > Crisis Management > Lectures > Independent Research > Mitroff's book >The effects of abnormal crises > Defence mechanisms > Victim and villain > Complexity > 4 styles of thinking > Assumptions > Structured problems > 4 views of crises > Crisis tool kit > Controlled paranoia - General Motors

General Motors - outdated responses to crises

GM used to be great at handling crises, but its strategies have not changed too much in 82 years. This is true of many US firms.

In the late 1910s and early 1920s, GM had four major crises. These included:

1. Coping with fluctuations in the economy
2. Controlling its inventory of cars
3. Getting accurate and timely sales data
4. Getting the car divisions to share their revenues with the central corporation.

The CEO of the day, Sloan, believed in long-term solutions and developed the first Financial Department for his firm, which monitored and forecast financial information - a new idea in that day!

This structure was so successful that GM became the world's largest corporation, with 50% of the US car market.

By the 1990s, this had shrunk to 25% - a terrible crisis.

Needed action

A well-designed organisation

Spirituality

Benetton-Turkey

Corporate emotional intelligence

CM and betrayal

Myths

Additional myths